Mozart and Beethoven
Encyclopedia
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
had a powerful influence on the work of Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
. Beethoven knew much of Mozart's work, and modeled a number of his own compositions on works of Mozart. In addition, the two may have met briefly in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
in 1787. This article covers both the possible meeting and the influence on Beethoven of Mozart's compositions.
Claims of their meeting
Although the exact dates are uncertain, it is known that Beethoven arrived in Vienna in January 1787 and departed in March or April, remaining in the city for up to 10 and a half weeks. As Mozart was in Prague for part of this time, there is a total period of about six weeks when the two composers could have met. Beethoven's return to Bonn was prompted at least in part by his mother's medical condition (she was dying of tuberculosisTuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
, passing away in July of that year). He also had a nearly incapacitated alcoholic father and two younger brothers, so it is understandable that he would have felt obliged to go home to help keep his family together. The written documentation for the facts of Beethoven's visit is thin.
As far as what happened during the visit, there are various views.
The 19th century biographer Otto Jahn
Otto Jahn
Otto Jahn , was a German archaeologist, philologist, and writer on art and music.He was born at Kiel...
gives the following anecdote:
- Beethoven made his appearance in Vienna as a youthful musician of promise in the spring of 1787, but was only able to remain there a short time; he was introduced to Mozart, and played to him at his request. Mozart, considering the piece he performed to be a studied show-piece, was somewhat cold in his expressions of admiration. Beethoven, noticing this, begged for a theme for improvisation, and, inspired by the presence of the master he revered so highly, played in such a manner as gradually to engross Mozart's whole attention; turning quietly to the bystanders, he said emphatically, "Mark that young man; he will make himself a name in the world!"
Jahn does not say where he got this from, mentioning only that "it was communicated to me in Vienna on good authority." No corroboration of the story from any contemporary document (for example, a letter of Beethoven's or Mozart's, or a reminiscence of any of Beethoven's contemporaries) supports the story.
Perhaps as a result, contemporary scholarship seems reluctant to propagate Jahn's story. The authoritative Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians
Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians
The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart, it is the largest single reference work on Western music. The dictionary has gone through several editions since the 19th century...
does not mention it; its account of the visit is as follows:
- In the spring of 1787 Beethoven visited Vienna. In the absence of documents much remains uncertain about the precise aims of the journey and the extent to which they were realized; but there seems little doubt that he met Mozart and perhaps had a few lessons from him.
Maynard Solomon
Maynard Solomon
Maynard Solomon has carried out a multiple career: he was a co-founder of Vanguard Records as well as a music producer, and later became a writer on music.-Career in the recording industry:...
, who has written closely researched biographies of both Mozart and Beethoven, likewise does not mention Jahn's tale. Instead he offers a rather harsh possibility, that Mozart might have given Beethoven an audition and then rejected him:
- In Bonn Beethoven was being groomed to be Mozart's successor by [a group of influential nobles], who sent him to Vienna ... to advance that purpose. The sixteen-year-old Beethoven, however, was not yet ready to be on his own. At his father's urging, the young virtuoso left Vienna...and returned home in a state of despondency over his mother's consumptive condition—and perhaps over a rejection by Mozart, who was preoccupied with his own affairs, including his worrisome financial condition, and may not have been able seriously to consider taking on another pupil, even one of great talent and backed by eminent patrons.
Leopold Mozart
Johann Georg Leopold Mozart was a German composer, conductor, teacher, and violinist. Mozart is best known today as the father and teacher of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and for his violin textbook Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule.-Childhood and student years:He was born in Augsburg, son of...
's declining health, a visit to Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
, the beginnings of work on Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and with an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It was premiered by the Prague Italian opera at the Teatro di Praga on October 29, 1787...
, and the writing of "a vast amount of other music." Moreover, Mozart at the time already had a pupil living in his home, the nine-year-old Johann Nepomuk Hummel
Johann Nepomuk Hummel
Johann Nepomuk Hummel or Jan Nepomuk Hummel was an Austrian composer and virtuoso pianist. His music reflects the transition from the Classical to the Romantic musical era.- Life :...
. Lastly, he notes that Beethoven eventually returned to Vienna, but only in 1792 – a year after Mozart's death.
A hypothesis that is apparently compatible with all the documentary evidence (other than Jahn's unsourced report) is that Mozart and Beethoven simply never met.
Regardless of which of these hypotheses is true, it seems that the first Vienna visit was the start of an unhappy time for Beethoven. The Grove Dictionary notes:
- [Beethoven's] first surviving letter, to a member of a family in AugsburgAugsburgAugsburg is a city in the south-west of Bavaria, Germany. It is a university town and home of the Regierungsbezirk Schwaben and the Bezirk Schwaben. Augsburg is an urban district and home to the institutions of the Landkreis Augsburg. It is, as of 2008, the third-largest city in Bavaria with a...
that had befriended him on his way [to Vienna], describes the melancholy events of that summer and hints at ... ill-health [and] depression.
Influence of Mozart's compositions on Beethoven
That Mozart's work continued to influence Beethoven is an uncontroversial claim. To give one example, the role played by Mozart's 40th SymphonySymphony No. 40 (Mozart)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote his Symphony No. 40 in G minor, KV. 550, in 1788. It is sometimes referred to as the "Great G minor symphony," to distinguish it from the "Little G minor symphony," No. 25. The two are the only minor key symphonies Mozart wrote....
in the composition of Beethoven's Fifth
Symphony No. 5 (Beethoven)
The Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67, was written by Ludwig van Beethoven in 1804–08. This symphony is one of the most popular and best-known compositions in all of classical music, and one of the most often played symphonies. It comprises four movements: an opening sonata, an andante, and a fast...
can be documented from Beethoven's sketchbooks, where Beethoven copied out a sequence from Mozart's work that he adapted into his own symphony; see Symphony No. 5 (Beethoven). It is also believed that some of Beethoven's works have direct models in comparable works by Mozart; for example Charles Rosen
Charles Rosen
Charles Rosen is an American pianist and author on music.-Life and career:In his youth he studied piano with Moriz Rosenthal. Rosenthal, born in 1862, had been a student of Franz Liszt...
sees Mozart's C minor piano concerto K. 491
Piano Concerto No. 24 (Mozart)
The Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor, K. 491 is a concertante work for piano, or pianoforte, and orchestra by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Mozart composed the concerto in the winter of 1785–1786 and completed the work on 24 March 1786...
as a model for Beethoven's Third Concerto
Piano Concerto No. 3 (Beethoven)
The Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37, was composed by Ludwig van Beethoven in 1800 and was first performed on 5 April 1803, with the composer as soloist. During that same performance, the Second Symphony and the oratorio Christ on the Mount of Olives were also debuted. The composition...
in the same key, the Quintet for Piano and Winds K. 452
Quintet for Piano and Winds (Mozart)
The Quintet in E flat major for Piano and Winds, K. 452, was completed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart on March 30, 1784 and premiered two days later at the Imperial and Royal National Court Theater in Vienna...
for Beethoven's comparable work
Op. 16
Quintet for Piano and Winds (Beethoven)
Quintet in E-flat for Piano and Winds, Op. 16, was written by Ludwig van Beethoven in 1796.The quintet is scored for piano, oboe, clarinet, horn, and bassoon. It was inspired by Mozart's Quintet, K. 452 , which has the same scoring and is also in E-flat.It is in three movements:*I. Grave - Allegro...
, and the A major String Quartet K. 464
String Quartet No. 18 (Mozart)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's String Quartet No. 18 in A major K. 464, the fifth of the Quartets dedicated to Haydn, was completed in 1785 Mozart's autograph catalogue states as the date of composition "1785. / the 10th January"...
for Beethoven's A major quartet Op. 18 No. 5
String Quartet No. 5 (Beethoven)
Ludwig van Beethoven's String Quartet No. 5 in A major was published in 1801 as opus 18, no. 5, and was written between 1798 and 1800. Beethoven modeled this quartet directly on Mozart's quartet in the same key .-Movements:...
. Robert Marshall sees Mozart's C minor piano sonata Piano Sonata No. 14 in C minor, K. 457
Piano Sonata No. 14 (Mozart)
The Piano Sonata No. 14 in C minor, K. 457, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was composed and completed in 1784, with the official date of completion recorded as October 14, 1784 in Mozart’s private catalogue of works. It was published in December of 1785 together with the Fantasy in C minor, K...
as the model for Beethoven's Pathétique
Piano Sonata No. 8 (Beethoven)
Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor, Op. 13, commonly known as Sonata Pathétique, was written in 1798 when the composer was 27 years old, and was published in 1799. Beethoven dedicated the work to his friend Prince Karl von Lichnowsky...
sonata Op. 13, in the same key.
Also, the 1st movement of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 1
Piano Concerto No. 1 (Beethoven)
Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 1 in C major, op. 15, was written during 1796 and 1797. The first performance was in Prague in 1798, with Beethoven himself playing the piano, dedicated to his student Babette Countess Keglevics....
in C major (composed 1796–97) clearly references Mozart's Symphony No. 41
Symphony No. 41 (Mozart)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart completed his Symphony No. 41 in C major, K. 551, on 10 August 1788. It was the last symphony that he composed.The work is nicknamed the Jupiter Symphony...
in C major, "Jupiter", K. 551 (1788)
Beethoven also wrote cadenzas (WoO
WoO
WoO is an acronym/abbreviation, derived from the German musical catalog phrase . WoO is a catalogue prepared in 1955 by Hans Halm and Georg Kinsky, listing all of the compositions of Ludwig van Beethoven that were not originally published with an opus number, or survived only as fragments.The...
58) to the first and third movements of Mozart's D minor piano concerto, K. 466
Piano Concerto No. 20 (Mozart)
The Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K. 466, was written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1785. The first performance took place at the Mehlgrube Casino in Vienna on February 11, 1785, with the composer as the soloist.-Background:...
, as well as four sets of variations on Mozart's themes:
- on "Se vuol ballare" from The Marriage of FigaroThe Marriage of FigaroLe nozze di Figaro, ossia la folle giornata , K. 492, is an opera buffa composed in 1786 in four acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte, based on a stage comedy by Pierre Beaumarchais, La folle journée, ou le Mariage de Figaro .Although the play by...
for piano and violin, WoO 40 (1792–3) - on "La ci darem la mano" from Don GiovanniDon GiovanniDon Giovanni is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and with an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It was premiered by the Prague Italian opera at the Teatro di Praga on October 29, 1787...
for two oboes and English horn, WoO 28 (?1795) - on "Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen" from The Magic FluteThe Magic FluteThe Magic Flute is an opera in two acts composed in 1791 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a Singspiel, a popular form that included both singing and spoken dialogue....
for piano and cello, Op. 66 (?1795) - on "Bei Männern welche Liebe fühlen" from the same opera, for piano and cello, WoO 46 (1801)